


Drowning, I'm Drowning

by LadyPenn (i_write_a_lot)



Category: White Collar
Genre: Death Fic, Drowning, Gen, Major character death - Freeform, Neal dies sorry, Neal's desperate and afraid, Peter doesn't arrive on time, Skyfall by Adele, Water, no way out of this madness, you can pretend that Neal doesn't die if you want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2017-12-16 21:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_a_lot/pseuds/LadyPenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal’s trapped and waiting to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -As usual, I don't own White Collar.  
> -My first death fic...I still can't believe that I wrote this.   
> -Sorry Neal.

There was no possible way for him to survive this. 

It was dark and cold and he was going to die.

Neal knew that, underneath the level of panic and desperation, he knew…Peter wouldn’t rescue him in time. 

He was going to die, drowning (drowning, I’m drowning!), as the water filled the room around him, and he had nowhere else to go. 

There was absolutely nowhere he could be to tread water, and he wasn’t one for holding his breath for long periods of time either. 

He could already feel that burning pressure of ‘not enough time’.

It wasn’t fair.

Then again, most cases usually wound up to the point that ‘it wasn’t fair’ so that statement was more than a bit redundant. 

Neal had reached the ceiling.

This was it. 

Hold your breath and count to ten. 

Sometimes he hated his brain, when it decided to play songs at random. 

Adele’s voice in the background really wasn’t helping. 

He had tickets to go see her in concert, but Peter wouldn’t let him go because they’d been in the middle of a case at the time.

He’d been rather disappointed he couldn’t go see her in person.

Maybe if he survived, he would ask Peter again to go and see her while the tickets were still good.

He tried to ignore his stupid brain as he searched frantically for some means of getting out of this little room, but the door was jammed. 

It could only be opened from the outside. 

There were no windows. 

He was screwed.

Sorry, Peter, I tried…

Blackness began to overtake him, but right before he passed out, he thought for a moment that he could see light…

And then Kate’s fingers were reaching out to help him. 

==  
The End


	2. Remorse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -so apparently, my brain decided to add a chapter to this story. Go figure. (It also doesn't help that I just bought the first season on DVD of White Collar!-I, er, couldn't help myself! lol) 
> 
> -thanks to those that have commented. I hope you guys like this new chapter-it's told in Peter's POV.

Peter could only stare numbly out the building of his office, his hands clutching his favorite mug as the thoughts "neal's dead" kept swirling in his mind over and over like a broken record. His heart was still beating, which should seem impossible. Neal couldn't be dead-there just wasn't any sort of evidence to support that. Jones had come in at one point, saying that they'd found a body...

El would be heartbroken. She geniunely liked Neal, despite the fact that Neal was the constant source of their problems for the past few weeks. That one case with the missing bible, and the other case with the comic books-those had been weird, but...well, FUN in a way. 

And now Neal was dead. 

"Boss? I hate to disturb you, but...I found something," Diana said from the doorway. 

"Whatever it might be, it can wait." Peter said firmly. 

"I'm hurt, Peter." Neal's voice said cheerfully, and Peter snapped around in his seat, staring wide-eyed with disbelief at a sodden, obviously alive Neal. A Neal that looked like he'd been through hell-his hair was wet and ruffled and full of trash, his suit was torn to shreds, and his tie...well, his tie had seen better days. Peter stared at Neal for a few moments, before saying flatly, 

"June's going to be rather upset about your suit, isn't she?"

Neal sighed. 

"Peter, you really have NO idea." 

The spell broken, Peter lunged from his seat and gripped him in a tight hug, surprising Neal so that he squeaked, but Neal then returned the hug-causing Peter's suit to become wet as well, but Peter could care less. He was just glad that Neal was ALIVE that he was HERE...

"Wait-how are you here? Jones said you were pulled from the river," Peter said, pulling away, and frowning at him. He looked over at Diana. "Diana?" He asked, confused. 

"Turns out, Neal was close to death, but the medics preformed CPR, and obviously it worked. He'll be sore and bruised for a while, but...he's alive." Diana pointed out, and Peter nodded. 

"Good, good...Neal? Do you-who tried-what happened?" Peter finally settled on. Neal frowned. 

"Honestly, I'm not sure, Peter. One moment, I was walking, and the next someone had wrapped their arms around my throat. I was then tossed into the river. I wouldn't have made it-I *should've* died, actually, because I had a chain and a heavy rock wrapped around my ankle..." Neal lifted his ankle, and Peter saw heavy bruises there. "And...I thought I saw Kate pulling me out, but it turned out to be Mozzie. Mozzie called Diana, Diana called a medical team and she and Jones rushed to our side. Then...well, here we are." Neal said, frowning. 

"You didn't see the guy at all?" Peter asked, wary. 

"He came from behind," Neal said quietly, and Peter exchanged a look with Diana. 

"Well, then I guess that settles things. From here on out, you are now 'dead to the world'. You'll stick here, or you can come to my place-Elizabeth will be pleased at seeing you again, I'm sure." Peter said, grinning. 

Neal winced. 

"How upset was she?"

"Pretty upset," Peter said, and Neal sighed. "You're going to be doing a lot of kissing up later. But in the meantime...let's get you out of those clothes, shall we?"

"Why, Peter, I had no idea you felt that way about me!" Neal said, grinning at him, causing Peter to stutter momentarily. 

"Wha-I...you...brat!" Peter spluttered. 

"Is that the best you can do?" Neal taunted, and Peter growled. Diana, grinning, went to get some more paperwork done feeling that this was the way things were supposed to be. Plus...

"Pay up," Diana told Jones, passing his desk. Jones sighed, but reluctantly forked over a fifty. Smirking, she tucked it into her pocket, and went back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Yeah, there'll be more coming. I've got a general idea of where I want this fic to go, hopefully it'll work out the way I want it to.


End file.
